ARABUS, 2024: For this story, I didn’t fix some of the discrepancies and mistakes in Alcott or Asauis’ back stories on this, but give the vague nature of how this all comes to be I figured a few inaccuracies from world to world or universe to universe were not that big a deal, and in some ways appropriate.
The story of this odd agent is created from the conjunction of two individuals, both committed to a similar cause, and both lost in the overall cost of that cause. Dunstrand can only give thanks to these two and the many others like them who sacrificed for the unification of the Duchy. Alcott- Alcott was born with a strange mark upon his chest, one that caused embarrassment and unease – a strange light blue mark where the soul gem of an elf would be. His eyes were also a flashing light blue – nothing like the dark blue eyes of other Umbakians. As a 2nd son of his father’s first wife he stood to inherit much. However, he was skipped over, officially written out of the family succession because of his perceived impurity. He was raised on the sea though, like his siblings and cousins, to be a sailor – one of the few naval houses of Umbak. He is at home more on sea than land, and more at home with his nose in a book than other people’s business. Being ostracized meant he spent a lot of time with books and learning about the world beyond the borders of the kingdom. And, when he became of age, his father gave him an inheritance to provide for his education. In a move to get slight revenge upon his family who had written him off, he penned a letter to the head of a bardic order in the duchy of Dunstrand – Umbak’s rival neighbor to the north. He left his family and traveled to the Malorian Academy there when he was 14. He studied for 4 years, and served for another 4 years around the central heartlands for the order, interacting with the High King’s bards, settling trade disputes, and fulfilling the business of House Malor – the ducal wizards of Dunstrand. He achieved some measure of skill in magic – something he knew would upset his parents and relatives. The entire time, he wrote as if he were studying to be a sage in the capital or Oerdney, creating an elaborate system of letter paths and contacts to fool them. After he made a small reputation for himself under the name of Alcott Traveler, he received word that though he was removed from succession, he must still serve the obligatory time in the Umbakian military before he was 30. He leveraged his reputation to enter. The Sheltering Brotherhood of defenders. They knew his name and background, and with a letter of recommendation from the Malorian Academy, he began his studies to be a holy warrior of Whelm. He spent the next 7 years in devoted study and martial defense of the hills and farmlands around southern Dunstrand/northern Fandelok. At the age of 25, he returned home to serve his time in the military. His family’s final contribution to his livelihood was to purchase a captain’s commission for him. Alcott served for 10 years in the Umbakian navy. His commission as a captain got him in, but it was soon clear he was a natural tactician and sailor. He chafed under the strict regimen of his countrymen, for him the war with imperial Gwinn was a godsend. He sold his commission in the navy, and bought himself a swift ship. Before his family’s honor was decreased by his actions, he used their name to get loans to outfit the ship. His previous connections got him a privateer contract on the Queen’s Coast of Umbak (north). For three years he terrorized the Gwinnish shipping. It was not the Gwinnish that finally brought him low, it was his own hubris. He chose to use a storm as cover for his hunting, got caught up in it, and lost his ship. His name was ruined. He paid his debts from his gains, and fell into a bottle of cheap wine. He’s been looking for a way to redeem himself in his own eyes. Offered by the Blackwells via Lucky. He was brought to Crestwold and asked to put together a crew to sail the boat. This he began, before being caught up in local troubles, not as part of The Blackwells, but on his own as an agent of them. This business cost him has hand. Wondering what he would do, he was contacted by House Malor, though the Malorian Academy, and sent to see Tal Beckam in Torrelson’s Ford. She runs the shop of Diamond Curios and Antiques at Torrelsons Ford, and is the Malor contact there in the capital of the Barony. She has been commanded to instruct him to travel to Mev. He is to stay there until whatever great announcement is to be made and return with the news as fast as possible. The Villa Neroway is the Gallant’s home base, rented from the land holder Lady of Dogwood Flats (Lady Mary).
Alcotts story amongst the Blackwells ended at the trunk roots of the world tree Yggdrasil. There members of his party hung themselves from the branches of the ever reaching tree, and Alcott was slain by the tree in his attempt to cut his comrade down. A bargain had been struck, and Alcott’s emotion had blinded him to this fact.
Asuais birth is unique, but not the initial desired outcome to those who knew its origins. Through the urgings of the folk of Saelish who still acknowledge their Bronzemen heritage and the celestials great Design upon the people, one of the Chosen was bid to copulate with a half elf. The hope was that the Elven soul gem and natural tie to anima would aid in bringing forth the latent spark in the offspring, while still being predominantly human. It did not work in the way any had hoped. Upon his birth his soul gem glowed, and very brightly, but flickered into dimness within minutes. The celestial spark did come forth, but only through the soul gem the child bore. The merging of the two species only ensured that the progeny would be more likely to be gifted with the soul gem so few half elves bore. The child was given to the care of the followers of Anubis, his birth parents known to him, but only involved peripherally. While raised within the faith and eager to serve, Asuai did not find his place within the Saelish Clergy. Even in their accepting culture he still found the Church too confining and sometimes judgemental. No boundary was ever crossed far enough to have him removed, but it was very clear that the pursuit and veneration of divine principles alone taxed his interest. He was permitted to continue his education and upbringing in Averul, where in his off time he could choose his own studies and pursuits within Brayfhayl. Here he delved into a variety of languages and topics that were commonly left ignored or even discouraged.. For Asuai, Knowledge was a long process to obtain, easy to apply, and always under-appreciated. EVERY fact and scrap of knowledge was important in the right circumstance and perspective. The cultural focus on meditation caused him to look inward as well as outward during his early teen years. Seeking peace of mind he would read and study in the wilderness, often around animals. He always felt calmest around Owls, Stags, Ravens, and Catfish. Within these environments he would read and study, and often find himself meditating on what he had learned. In this state he found an awareness of a part of himself that he had not been aware of before. Like his heartbeat it was ever present, yet only noticeable if focused on. Within his chest, counter-beat to his heart, the soul gem still pulsed with some form of spark and life beyond it’s unbonded form. Slipping into that rhythm and counter rhythm, he found himself reaching out, trying to form the bonding his heritage made him capable of. He soared above himself, nearly an astral projection, ever upward and through reality. When his mental travels through his own soul touched upon the realms of the dead, there he met his Patron. Anubis knew him for what he was, soaring through his mortal and heritage perspective at once. To have sought his Celestine heritage strongly enough to find the lands of the dead was enough to draw the attention of Anubis, who bonded Asuai in a pact, while simultaneously casting him down to his own body. While Asuai fell down through the heavens, through his own worlds sky and the lightning storm that had formed above him, he heard through his being the message of his patron “The way of your people is not closed to you. Seek another route, not of your ancestors upon either side. The great experiment may be accomplished in many ways, so long as the intent of ascension and life’s balances prevails.” When Asuai opened his eyes, his eyes, hands and chest still crackling with the lightning of the sky’s, he breathed as deeply as he ever had in his life. Reality was made new, and his end goal was very clear, while the path to get there… More knowledge would have to be obtained.
Asauis’ end was found far in the north, where he and his Pin Feather (Gallantine Penitents) brethren had been swept, quite literally, by the northern winds to aid the frost giants in their effort to hinder the movements of an agent of the lich lords: Bittermaw. Asaui had already been unwillingly cursed with ghouldom, and struggled with his own continued existence, but found his own form of internal peace when the party found themselves in a massive conflict with Bittermaw himself. Asaui sacrificed himself for the cause, manifesting the raw power of Anubis to severely weaken Bittermaw. Asaui’s curse was ended, and his comrades were able to slay the undead wizard. ]
Asauis’ soul was promised peace, yet the bonded agent Anubis had sent to him lingered, unable to serve it’s purpose. Anubis reached out, and convened with Yggdrasil. It is unknown what both Godly entities gained from the exchange, but Anubis himself lifted the corpse of Alcott Garresht and hung it from the branches of Yggdrasil. Alcott’s soul was awakened in another realm, where he was told by Anubis that so long as he carried with him the familiar of the Judge, he would be able to persist in this realm. Alcott was tasked with following the ‘thread of Yggdrasils root’ so that the Familiar ‘Serapsis’ may return to his master with the weights this world places upon the eternal scales. In return Alcott is promised the elimination of all that weighs against him upon the eternal scales, he may pass to the realm of any deity or pocket plane that his soul craves, using the lands of the dead to bypass the judgement of all others. Alcott agrees, accepting the familiar Serapsis as a bond upon his soul, hoping to find solace, forgiveness, or at least a chance to do better in his new interactions. Upon awakening in this new world Alcott finds himself wrought with confusion. He should be dead, yet lives in the body of what appears to be a creature of elven descent. His perceptions are convoluted and alien as he thinks and mentally formulates reality from his original senses and capabilities, yet his physical form is now that of Asaui Cermak. Smell, taste, color, even sounds are all perceived through filters Alcott did not experience at any point in his life, let alone through childhood and developmental years. To add to his disorientation his essence, his very soul, is still very much in the lands of the dead. All ego and existential thought only exists as a member of the deceased, incapable of recognizing the desires and fears of those who have not crossed the threshold, and mingling with the other spirits within the lands of the dead. Alcott seems to only drudge forward, unless some event or conflict in this world seems to coincide with his past life. Mumbling to himself or talking to those who apparently only he can see or hear, often holding full conversations with “Asaui”, he offers insights and knowledge that he could not know of this world, or even his own, all while curled and hunched into himself and seeming on the verge of leaping to defend any and all from some unknown danger. The only sense of normalcy or peace he finds is through merging his senses with Serapsis, who seems to act as a filter and lens for his varying perceptions. He often uses Serapsis to communicate with others, and has become very protective of the small agent of Anubis.